German ministry working on hardware fix to vehicle diesel emissions: report

German carmakers could yet be forced to make hardware adjustments in diesel vehicles as part of a strategy to cut emissions under plans being drawn up by the Transport Ministry, Der Spiegel reported.

At the so-called diesel summit in Berlin on August 2, carmakers Volkswagen, Daimler and BMW agreed to carry out software updates in over 5 million vehicles that they said would cut nitrogen oxide output by between 25 and 30 percent.

But critics say that full hardware refits are needed to adequately reduce emissions and a recent study by the German environmental protection agency Umweltbundesamt (UBA) argued that the software measures would not be enough.

According to the German weekly, the Transport Ministry is now looking at how a technical retrofit program would work — focusing on whether so-called AdBlue tanks could be installed in older Euro 5 standard vehicles sold between 2011 and 2015.

AdBlue works by injecting urea into an exhaust system to remove some of the harmful pollutants. In newer Euro 6 standard vehicles, the ministry wants to find out whether tanks for the liquid could be enlarged.

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Vishnou

Good luck to him. Lost case unless the EU impose infringement procedures that threat to ruin the automotive industry, whether it is German or not. At the same time, the EU has to adapt its requirements in terms of limitations: if these are so strict that they can’t be met, of course, car manufacturers will make sure they put in place a system allowing them to cheat at testing.

Posted on 8/26/17 | 4:23 PM CEST

VorsprungDurchTechnik

These guys have been killing people with their toxic gases. The fines should be very large. Bankers have so-far paid $321 billion and they did not kill anyone. The bankers paid such enormous such fines that it squeezed them over many years. Many bankster jobs were lost. This made them reform. Unless similar treatment is given to the crooks in the auto industry they will only do it again.

Posted on 8/26/17 | 5:07 PM CEST

Klinko

@Vishnou

Stop making excuses for them. Other manufacturers have had to compete with the cheating German’s and still made the emissions standards.

What should be assessed is the impact on performance these software changes to remove the cheat routines and emissions adjustments have on the car’s (mpg etc.) rather than making excuses for them and they should bear the ongoing costs of adding AdBlue additives which the owners should not have to foot the bill for the ongoing supply of the fluid.

Posted on 8/26/17 | 5:18 PM CEST

alan

Perhaps anyone who bought one of these ‘defective’ vehicles on lease/PCP or whatever should just advise the supplier & credit provider that the vehicle is not of ‘merchantable quality’ and ask for their money back

Posted on 8/26/17 | 7:36 PM CEST

Peter

They should be made to pay the same level of compensation to EU consumers as they are in the US!